Nice guy Ben gets Frozen out by bored daughter!
As excuses go, I’ve not heard many better.
I’d flown all the way to New York for a chat with the man of the moment, the star of hit thriller Gone Girl, and the future Caped Crusader, Ben Affleck. But the problem was he was a bit peckish.
“Mr Affleck is quite hungry and is going to go for lunch first,” an assistant told me.
“Er…I can’t wait,” I stumbled. “I have to catch a plane soon…to go and interview Dolly Parton.”
I wasn’t kidding either, I was due on a flight to Nashville straight after the chat with Ben.
My excuse more original than “I’ve got a dentist’s appointment” at least must have tickled Ben, because he agreed to move our chat forward.
The David Fincher-directed thriller Gone Girl, in which Ben stars with gorgeous British actress Rosamund Pike, has been a hit with audiences and critics alike.
But the role of shifty husband Nick Dunne probably won’t be his most iconic role in years to come. Ben will be starring in Zack Snyder’s Batman vs Superman as the Dark Knight, in 2016.
And the first thing I did was to wish him luck because things are about to go crazy for him. But Ben is an old hand at this superhero lark. He starred in crimefighting caper Daredevil in 2003.
The film might not have been much cop but at least he got to meet his wife Jennifer Garner, on set. They now have three children together.
As well as being an actor, Ben is a director too. He helmed the hostage thriller Argo, which won the Best Picture Oscar in 2013.
It may have impressed the Academy, but not his three young children Maybe Batman will change that?
“My kids aren’t even into superheroes,” he laughed. “They’re always complaining I’m doing movies they can’t see. My oldest daughter says, ‘I can’t see Argo or Gone Girl. When are you going to do a GOOD movie, Dad?’
“Man, if I’d done Frozen I would be king of the world to my kids. I’ve seen that movie more than I’ve seen the Godfather. And I’ve seen the Godfather a lot.”
Ben’s known as a nice guy in Hollywood who chats to fans. There’s a great scene in Gone Girl where Ben’s character, whose wife is missing, is approached by someone who wants a selfie with him.
I wondered if Ben could relate to these pretty uncomfortable moments.
“I can be trying to help my children, and somebody comes along and wants a photograph,” he explained.
“You try to remember it’s a fan who likes your work but you can’t do it all the time. There’s a tension there. But you feel like you owe people who see your movies something.”
Buckle up, Ben, I’ve got the feeling things are about to go absolutely Batty…
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